Programmable Nanophotonics for Deep Learning and Neuromorphic Computing

剧情简介。计算机的诞生塑造了20世纪的社会和科学。经过几十年的指数级改进，随着晶体管的缩小达到其物理极限，冯·诺伊曼架构在速度、效率和通用性方面的性能已经开始触及基本极限。因此，当前的计算能力和计算需求之间的差距正在扩大。在涉及复杂系统、大数据或实时需求的问题中，这种不足是显而易见的。由于金属互连在带宽和能耗方面的限制，对非常规（非冯·诺伊曼）计算的尝试只取得了部分成功。******愿景与目标。该计划的基础源于我在班廷的奖学金，该奖学金创造了“神经形态光子学”一词。我的跨学科研究的愿景是通过统一纳米光子（即光学）物理，神经形态（即大脑启发）架构和新兴技术（硅光子学）平台，推进对可扩展信息处理的光子物理的理解。由此产生的光子处理器将有可能在能效和计算速度上分别比目前最先进的微电子处理器高出7个数量级和4个数量级。科学目标包括：1)基于石墨烯电光调制器的推力能量高效（阿焦耳/操作）光子神经元；2)推进可扩展和可编程硅光子神经网络架构；3)推力光子处理器在广义神经形态计算任务中的应用，包括深度学习和模型预测控制的非线性优化。这个程序专注于这些计算任务，因为它们是出了名的难以解决。******IMPACT。实验驱动的神经形态纳米光子学研究将作为集成光子学用于可扩展信息处理的第一个可行性证明。提出的程序有潜力塑造超越冯-诺伊曼架构的通用计算引擎的新兴领域，并帮助重新定义其物理限制。由此产生的技术有可能改变社会、科学和技术领域，包括自动导航车辆、生物信息学、安全和大数据。这项研究将促进整个科学界和加拿大的卓越创新文化。该计划的多学科性质承诺促进加拿大学术机构和私营部门之间的合作关系。该计划的教育影响在于将学生定位为学术界或工业界的现成劳动力，以推动明天在光子学，应用物理和工程方面的进步，以应对21世纪的挑战。

SYNOPSIS. The birth of computers shaped 20th century society and science. After decades of exponential improvement, the performance of von Neumann architectures in speed, efficiency, and generality, has begun to run into fundamental limits, as the shrinking of transistors reaches its physical limits. As a result, the gap between current computing capabilities and computing needs is widening. This insufficiency is apparent in problems involving complex systems, big data, or real-time requirements. Forays into unconventional (non-von Neumann) computing have only been partially successful due to the limitations in bandwidth and energy consumption posed by metal interconnects.******VISION & OBJECTIVES. The groundwork of the proposed program stems from my Banting Fellowship which coined the term Neuromorphic Photonics. The vision of my cross-disciplinary research is to advance the understanding of photonic physics for scalable information processing by unifying nanophotonic (i.e. optical) physics, neuromorphic (i.e. brain-inspired) architectures, and emerging technology (silicon photonics) platforms. The resulting photonic processors will have the potential to outperform state-of-the-art microelectronic processors in energy efficiency and computational speeds by seven- and four orders-of-magnitude, respectively. Scientific objectives include: 1) devices thrust—energy efficient (attoJoule/operation) photonic neurons with graphene-based electro-optic modulators; 2) architectures thrust—scalable and programmable silicon photonic neural network architectures; and 3) applications thrust—photonic processors for generalized neuromorphic computing tasks including deep learning and nonlinear optimization for model predictive control. This program focuses on these computing tasks as they are notoriously difficult to solve.******IMPACT. An experimentally-driven investigation of neuromorphic nanophotonics will serve as the first feasibility proof of using integrated photonics for scalable information processing. The proposed program has the potential to shape the emerging field of generalized compute engines beyond von-Neumann architectures and help redefine their physical limitations. The resulting technology has the potential to transform social, scientific, and technological sectors including self-navigating vehicles, bio-informatics, security, and big data. This research will contribute to the culture of innovation excellence across the scientific community and Canada. The multi-disciplinary nature of the program promises to foster collaborative ties across Canadian academic institutions and the private sector. The program's educational impact rests on uniquely positioning students for a readied workforce in academia or industry to drive tomorrow's advancements in photonics, applied physics, and engineering for 21st century challenges.